A South Shore Journey

[Ken C]

A South Shore Journey!

Having been through the summer with only a few chances to get out to the shore due to scheduling. I couldn’t pass up a last minute paddle invitation on the South Shore. Usually my visits to the South are to head out to the Outer Islands and The Graves in the off season. But today’s proposed route was heading out from Windmill Point and traveling south, a route I’ve never done and seemed interesting.

A small group of us put in and launched around 9:45 and paddled with the ebb out of the Gut. The heat of the day was already setting in with a slight breeze from the NW forecast to shift E. Rounding the point and heading SE we proceeded past Pemberton and Stony Beach it was amazing how quickly the hustle of Boston Harbor disappeared! We continued along the shore to Pt Allerton and rather that paddle along Nantaskett decided to set a heading directly to Minots Light. This was a long open and rather quiet crossing. A few working lobster boats, and boils of fish. There seemed to be a number of schools of what looked like Bonito as some were coming out of the water probably chased by Blues or Stripers.

Continuing on at a steady pace we arrived at Minots and spent a bit of time around the light and the ledge. Just to imagine being a keeper in this tower of Granite that rises out of the water would give you the willies! Imagine living inside a 100+ ft tower period! No little island or keepers house, just a round granite tower! The first 40’ were the reservoir for drinking water then there was a floor for a work shop and one for living And a small library that consisted of 50 volumes! This house had a history of many keepers due to the isolation and I can see why.

We then did a quick run into Cohasett Harbor and found a beach area to have lunch on. After lunch we crossed the harbor which is a rather small one, and poked along the shore and rock islands. This is a rather nice section from the Harbor to Gunn Rocks. We did take some tome to go play in the Cohassett Rip created in Little Harbor and the bridge! Boy that runs fast and a great play spot. Too bad we had to paddle 9 miles to get there! The area at Minots Ledge, and between Cohasett and Gunn Rock including Little Harbor would make a great play spot if a put in closer to that area was possible. After reaching Gun Rock we set course to Pt Allerton rather than stick to the beach area and retraced our route to the Gut.

When we arrived at the gut she was at full ebb, talk about timing!! There were loads of sail boats many under sail alone heading through and when they reached the gut they were barely making headway. At least one Trimaran was having trouble making any headway at all and for a few minutes looked as if the boat was in danger of loosing steerage! That boat did manage to keep making headway, but the combination of all these sail boats and the slew of power boats weaving in and out of them made for an interesting paddle through. We were forced to stick fairly close to the edge so were getting not only full ebb current, but the acceleration as the current swept into the narrowing mouth which were breaking through. A bit of work and were back home!!

It was a long day on the water, approx 18-19 miles but a great paddle in a new area.

Ken Condon

Romany 16

Yellow over white